Toyota wins ruling against former In-House lawyer

Toyota has won its long-running battle with former in-house lawyer Dimitrios Biller. It appears the automaker won a complete victory in arbitration. Arbitrator Gary Taylor granted the company’s Motion for Summary Judgment and dismissed Biller’s RICO claims, and ruled against Biller’s claims of defamation, fraud and false promises. The ruling was also in favor of the in-house lawyers Biller included in his lawsuit.

The arbitrator found Biller liable for breach of contract, citing “multiple instances of unauthorized disclosure” of the company’s confidential information. These disclosures took the form of postings on Biller’s website, his public seminars, his discussions with the media, and his delivery of thousands of documents to a Texas court “without a request, subpoena or legal compulsion,” according to the ruling.

The arbitrator awarded Toyota $2.5 million for the unauthorized disclosures, and $100,000 in punitive damages. He also entered a permanent injunction instructing Biller to return the confidential documents he took from Toyota and prohibiting him from future disclosures of confidential information. Even though this matter was decided in arbitration – and not by a court of law – it’s still a major victory for Toyota.